[ExI] free-will, determinism, crime and punishment

[Michael M. Butler]

> As far as anyone knows, his will to commit the crime was a function
> of his criminal nature and determined by it.

Ah. I finally get it. So, I infer, anyone who believes in any form of
retribution/payback is also in need of rehabilitation? And any who
require rehabilitation can't rehabilitate themselves, right? Or that
wouldn't have really been their real nature. QED.

Ignore the whole question of free will. Treat actors as black boxes.
Are you not proposing that the satisficing iterated prisoner's dilemma
strategy of tit-for-tat is guaranteed worse than whatever it is that
you think you'll obtain with... something else, probably including
some central authority that will regroove people who don't fit?

The presuppositions, opportunity costs and other factors are
staggering for such a modest proposal as yours. Not that it's a new
one.

My cat is not spherical<footnote>. To me, a sheaf of human societal
strategies seems more robust and potentially survival-likely than a
no-capital-punishment-ever monoculture encompassing all of humankind
(or what we become). You're welcome to the societal strategies you
propose. Over wherever you are. :)

M

<footnote> Taken from the punchline of the old science joke.
-- 
         Michael M. Butler  :  m m b u t l e r  ( a t )  g m a i l . c o m
         "I'm going to get over this some time. Might as well be now."